


A Quick Succession of Busy Nothings

by Dawnwind



Category: The Professionals
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-08-15
Packaged: 2017-12-23 14:45:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawnwind/pseuds/Dawnwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A stake-out at a book store proves that reading can be inspirational.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Quick Succession of Busy Nothings

Doyle glanced over the stacks of books at the gentleman perusing the DIY section. Who would have thought that the biggest arms smuggler in London would be such a bore? Twelve hours Doyle and Bodie had been tailing Leon Gelbwacks. He’d slept the night with a respectable lady friend in Kensington, ate his breakfast reading the Times—strawberries and muesli for him, no artery clogging morning fry-up --and then come to the book shop.

Boggled the mind. Doyle would have welcomed a bit of chasing down dark alleys with gun in hand about now. He was going to fall asleep amongst the top ten bestsellers. He needed stimulation. He needed…he allowed himself a brief fantasy of a nude Bodie looking down at his equally naked body.

Scanning the shop, Doyle saw Gelbwacks flipping through a book on wooden decks. Apparently planning to renovate a home? Possibly his business ventures had gone farther afield than London and he owned a home elsewhere? Something for CI5 to look into. 

Right now, all Doyle wanted was for Gelbwacks walk out to the high street where Jax and Anson would assume tail duty, relieving him and Bodie.

“What’s our gentleman doing so far?” Bodie said sotto voce as he walked behind Doyle.

“Can’t decide whether to stain or shellac his…”

“How you manage to make the most innocent subjects sound dirty, I will never know.” Bodie lifted a sardonic eyebrow and sauntered off to Fiction, effectively putting Gelbwacks between he and Doyle.

Doyle strolled casually to the magazine rack, selecting _Time Out_ —which he actually did want to buy. He liked reading about the latest movies, plays and books, even when he never seemed to have any time for a social life. 

Ah! Gelbwacks had decided on _Decks, Balconies and Porches for the Beginner_ and was heading for the cash desk. Doyle sighed when the man handed over a twenty pound note, got change and walked out. 

Anson had been sitting at a café sipping coffee for half an hour. Through the book shop window, Doyle saw Anson take a last swallow, fold his newspaper and walk up the street in the same direction as Gelbwacks. Undoubtedly, Jax was in position farther on to join the stake-out.

Wasn’t difficult to locate Bodie. He was in exactly the same spot Doyle had last seen him: the fiction section. Bodie was nose deep in a book, keen interest on his face.

“If you want that, you’re supposed to pay for it and take it home to read,” Doyle admonished into his ear. 

Bodie looked up at him as if he’d forgotten where he was. “Gelbwacks gone, then?”

“No thanks to your investigative skills,” Doyle snorted. “What’ve you got?”

Closing the book, Bodie held it up so Doyle could read the title. The cover featured a dark haired man wearing a flight suit and a blond with vivacious pulchritude. A curly haired soldier lurked behind, looking longingly at the couple.

“ _Pride and Parachute_?” Doyle chuckled. “Miss Bennett sky-diving, now there’s an image I didn’t expect.”

“You’ve got it in one, sort of,” Bodie chuckled. “Not quite the Jane Austen we read in school. The author’s moved the action to a paratrooper base outside of London without changing much else. Weirdly, the story still works.”

“How much have you read already?” Doyle demanded. It was a slim volume, and Bodie a fast reader, but he can’t have done more than a chapter, at most.

“For my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short,” Bodie quoted Austen with a hauteur that only he could pull off.

“Plan to buy it then?” Doyle asked, digging into his pocket for a couple of pounds to pay for his magazine. He looked up in time to see that Bodie seemed inordinately interested in his fingers still wiggling inside denim. _So it was that way, was it?_  
He pulled the coins out triumphantly. “We could read parts…”

“In bed,” Bodie replied, exactly as Doyle had anticipated. “I’ll be Mr Darcy and you can be Bingly…”

“Who made you casting director?” Doyle challenged, quite pleased nonetheless. He paid for his magazine, and being in a generous frame of mind, bought Bodie’s book, too. 

The cashier gave them a disdainful look, clearly contemptuous of two men buying a romantic novel and handed over the bag.

Bodie was chortling with glee by the time they made it out of the shop. “I believe that young man suspects what we plan to do with the book.”

“He must have a filthy mind,” Doyle said loftily. “I’ve a keen interest in…paratroopers, is all.”

“All paratroopers, or d’you fancy one in particular?” Bodie asked, heading toward the Capri parked two streets over where Gelbwacks would not have seen it.

“There’s a bloke, thinks highly of himself, but…” Doyle caught up with him and grinned, filled with mischievous love. “I’d be willing to jump out of an aeroplane for him.”

“Mr Bingly, you are most amusing.” Bodie batted his long lashes and bumped his hip against Doyle’s.

Doyle laughed. It was going to be a fantastic afternoon.

FIN


End file.
